Arrests made as students march in London against higher tuition fees

Police have confirmed several people have been arrested this afternoon as thousands of students take to the streets of central London to protest against higher tuition fees, with groups setting up camps in Trafalgar Square by pitching pop-up tents.

An encampment set up by demonstrators in Trafalgar Square, London, during the latest student fees march (Picture: PA)

A Metropolitan police spokesperson said a number of people had been arrested for public order offences on Wednesday afternoon.The student protest is expected to join up with the Occupy London demonstration against financial institutions outside St Paulâs Cathedral later

Four thousand police offers have been placed on duty in the capital to help deal with the protest, with demonstrators being warned they risk arrest if they do not stay on the agreed route.

Demonstrators have also been told they will only be allowed to remain in the City of London for two hours this afternoon.

Police intervened after anti-capitalist ‘Occupy’ activists put up 20 tents at the foot of Nelson’s Column. But the group said they were planning to stay for as ‘long as possible’ and chanted ‘Whose square? Our square’.

TV cameras have shown thousands of people making their way through the streets of London.

Police have made a number of arrests as students continue to march through the capital (Picture: AP)

Many demonstrators were thought to have stayed away after chiefs warned that rubber bullets were available after major disturbances in November and December last year.

Demonstrator Beth Atkinson, 27, from London, said: ‘It is ludicrous. It is antagonistic, it is like they are egging on a fight, which is frankly embarrassing.’

Regarding the protest, a Scotland Yard spokesperson declared: âAnyone who knowingly fails to comply with these conditions, or who incites others to fail to comply, is committing an offence and may be liable to arrest.â

However, a group has already split off from the official march and erected a makeshift camp in Trafalgar Square.

Kurt Stallwood, 27, from London, who has also been part of St Paul’s protest, said: ‘Trafalgar Square has been a focal point for demonstrations for years.

Some protesters set up tents in Trafalgar Square (Picture: Getty)

‘We all know something is wrong, something needs to change, and the more people who realise that they are not alone in this the better.’

The heavy police presence comes after a similar protest last year descended into violent clashes between demonstrators and riot police.

National Campaign Against Fees leader Michael Chessum, who helped organise today’s protest, has called police ‘intimidation’ in the lead up to the demonstration as ‘unacceptable and irresponsible’.